27 June 2016
In reply please quote: FOI Request: FA 15/12/01765
File Number: ADF2015/70046
Mr Ben Fairless
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Fairless
Freedom of Information request – Release of documents
I am writing to you in relation to your request under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) received by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) on
25 December 2015, seeking access to:
Original scope
Can you please provide all emails that relate to the processing of requests from
applicants via Right to Know?
Can you also provide any documents that relate to the use of the below quote in
emails:
"I am not satisfied that the web address you have provided meets the requirement of
‘details of how notices under the FOI Act may be sent to the applicant’ (s.15(2)(c) of
the FOI Act). Rather, the address you have provided appears to be an address for
publication of correspondence on the internet."
I limit the timeframe of the request to the last 6 months, and specifically exclude
duplicates.
It would be appreciated if the Department could consider processing this request
under Administrative Access, as the Department has been warned by the OAIC for
using this reason to unreasonably delay applicants making requests via Right to
Know.
Revised scope
On 6 January 2016 you clarified the scope of your request as below:
6 Chan Street Belconnen ACT 2617
PO Box 25 BELCONNEN ACT 2616 • Telephone: 02 6264 1111 • Fax: 02 6225 6970 • www.border.gov.au
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Part 1 Clarification ------------------------ - The request is for internal documents, including documents between the department
and it's contractors, agents or solicitors that relate to how the Department handles
FOI requests via the Right to Know website.
- The request specifically excludes documents that I have been provided in the past.
Part 2 Clarification ------------------------ I have performed a search using the Right to Know website using the search term "I
am not satisfied that the web address you have provided" (the first part of the
statement mentioned in Part 2. The search can be run by clicking this link:
<https://www.righttoknow.org.au/search/%22I%20am%20not%20satisfied%20that%2
0the%20web%20address%20you%20have%20provided%22/all>
5 of these responses were sent on the 15th of June 2015. Of these, none of the
applications relate to personal information:
<https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/mental_health_of_child_asylum_se> <https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/detainee_suicides_in_australian> <https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/use_of_observation_rooms_at_vill> <https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/death_threats_made_against_villa> <https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/correspondence_between_the_depar>
The above emails, sent by the Department, are in direct contradiction to a letter sent
by Abigail Bradshaw, National Manager, Parliamentary and Executive Coordination
Branch to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner on 25 July 2014 in
response to a complaint that I made regarding this behaviour. In that letter, she states
that "FOI officers have been instructed that RTK email addresses are to be treated as
valid addresses for notice, as required by s.15(2)(c) of the FOI Act".
If it assists me in revising Part 2, I seek: 2a) - Documents which relate to the decision to send emails to FOI applicants via
Right to Know with the below statement:
"I am not satisfied that the web address you have provided meets the
requirement of ‘details of how notices under the FOI Act may be sent to the
applicant’ (s.15(2)(c) of the FOI Act). Rather, the address you have provided
appears to be an address for publication of correspondence on the internet."
2b) - A copy of the template(s) used to respond to requests that are not for personal
information via Right to Know
2c)- A copy of the template(s) used to respond to requests only for personal
information via Right to Know
2d)- A copy of any internal documents created which relate to the alteration of the
instructions mentioned by Abigail Bradshaw in her letter of 25 July 2014. I limit the timeframe of the request to the last 6 months, and specifically exclude
duplicates.
Further I note that as part of your request you advised that you would be happy to provide a
14 day extension of processing time as provided for under section 15AA [Extension of time
with agreement] of the FOI Act.
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Background
On 5 January 2016, Ms Janelle Raineri, FOI Officer, wrote to you seeking clarification of your
FOI request. On 6 January 2016, you responded to Ms Raineri by providing detailed
clarification in regard to the documents you were seeking.
On 14 January 2016, Ms Raineri wrote to you to confirm that it was likely that there would be
a delay in the processing of your FOI request, as the Department has seen a significant
increase in the number of FOI requests received. Ms Raineri also advised that the statutory
due date for you to receive your decision would be 7 February 2016.
I apologise for the delay in responding to your request, noting that your statutory due date
has now expired.
On 6 February 2016, you wrote to the FOI Section asking how the request was progressing,
to which Ms Raineri responded on 12 February 2016 advising that we
had identified 9 FOI
requests that would be subject to the scope of the request and that each of these requests
has an FOI file. Ms Raineri
advised that she
was awaiting an available officer to conduct a
search of each of these files to identify the specific documents subject to your request.
Interpretation of scope
Your case was allocated to me on Tuesday 21 June 2016. I have now reviewed your
request and also your clarification about the scope of the documents in which you were
seeking.
My interpretation of your request is that you are specifically seeking copies of any
documents, relating to any processing guidelines, policy guidance, material, templates or
instructions, including emails about how the Department manages or processes any requests
received from applicants through the Right to Know website, for a six month period prior to
25 December 2015; being the date in which your request was received.
Having regard to the nature of the documents saved on an FOI request file, which include the
processing or operational emails of a specific case, I also conducted searches of the
Department’s record keeping systems, known as HP TRIM, the Group Drive within the FOI
Section, and the FOI Director’s record holdings, to identify any potential emails,
communications, policy guidance, material, templates or instructions, which may provide
detail as to the management of FOI requests received from applicants through the Right to
Know website.
As a result of those searches I only found one relevant document, falling within the scope of
your request, along with a further document, which I will release to you administratively.
Decision
This letter is to provide you with my decision, which is to release the identified relevant
document to you in full. Further as mentioned above, I have identified an additional
document which while I find that the document does not fall within the scope of your request,
it may provide you with some context. Therefore I will release that document to you
administratively, (IE: outside the provisions of the FOI Act). My decision is set out in the
attached Decision Record. The relevant documents are attached to this letter. Read together,
these attachments form my reasons for the decision.
Review rights
Internal review
If you disagree with my decision, you have the right to apply for an internal review of my
decision. If you wish to make a request for internal review this must be sent within 30 days of
being notified of the decision. Where possible please attach reasons why you believe review
of the decision is necessary. The internal review will be carried out by an officer other than
the original decision-maker and the Department must make a review decision within 30 days.
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Applications for review should be sent to:
Freedom of Information
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
PO Box 25
BELCONNEN ACT 2617
Or by email to: xxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx
Review by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
You may apply directly to the Australian Information Commissioner for a review of my
decision. You must apply in writing within 60 days of this notice. For further information about
review rights under the FOI Act please see FOI fact sheet 12 ‘Freedom of information – Your
review rights’, available online at
www.oaic.gov.au
How to make a complaint about the handling of your FOI request
You may complain to the Australian Information Commissioner if you have concerns about
how the Department has handled your request under the FOI Act. Information about how to
submit a complaint is also available at
www.oaic.gov.au
Contact by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner The Department has been contacted by the OAIC, following your contact with them in
relation to this request. As such, I have forwarded a copy of this decision to the OAIC for
their records.
FOI Disclosure Log Section 11C of the FOI Act requires that information in
accessed documents must be
published to members of the public on a website as outlined in section 11C(3) of the FOI Act.
The FOI Act requires that the information be published, at the latest,
within 10 working days
after the day on which access has been given to the documents (section 11C(6)). Certain
classes of documents/information such as personal and business information are exempt
from this requirement.
The process is that, in any given week, documents released to applicants in the period
Thursday through to the following Wednesday are placed on the disclosure log that Friday.
Contacting the FOI section
If you wish to discuss this matter, I can be contacted using the details provided below.
Yours sincerely
Signed electronically
Karen Tulloch
FOI Officer | Freedom of Information Section
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
Email: FOI @border.gov.au
Attachment(s)
•
Attachment A – Decision Record
•
Attachment B – Document released – within scope
•
Attachment C – Document released administratively – outside scope
Attachment A
DECISION RECORD
Request Details FOI Request: FA 15/12/01765
File Number: ADF2015/70046
Scope of request
Please refer to pages one and two in the attached cover decision letter.
My interpretation of your request is that you are seeking copies of
any documents relating to
any processing guidelines, guidance material or instructions about how the Department
manages or processes any requests received from applicants, through the Right to Know
website, for a six month period prior to 25 December 2015, being the date in which your
request was received.
Documents in scope
1. Personal Requests via Right to Know – invalid.oft
Authority to make decision
I am an officer authorised under section 23 of the FOI Act to make decisions in respect of
requests to access documents or to amend or annotate Departmental records.
Information considered
In reaching my decision, I have considered the following:
•
The
Freedom of Information Act 1982;
•
Departmental files and/or documents (identified above); and
• The Australian Information Commissioner’s Guidelines relating to access to documents
held by government.
Reasons for decision
I am satisfied that I have located all the relevant documents to consider in my decision. I have
considered the documents and am satisfied that no exemptions apply. Therefore, I am
releasing the relevant document in full. A copy of this document is at Attachment B.
Further, I note that this template is only used in the case of where a request may be received
through the Right to Know website, in which the applicant is seeking documents containing
personal information, and to ensure they are aware that any documents may be published.
6 Chan Street Belconnen ACT 2617
PO Box 25 BELCONNEN ACT 2616 • Telephone: 02 6264 1111 • Fax: 02 6225 6970 • www.border.gov.au
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Administrative documents
As indicated above, I also found one further document. I consider that this document does not
fall within the scope of the request, given that the document is no longer used by the
Department, and has not been used since 28 May 2015, however given the close proximity in
the date range, and the document’s relevance to your topic interest, I decided that releasing
the document to you, may provide you with further context.
I conducted a search of the metadata for this document, and have determined that the
document has not been used nor accessed by any person for over 12 months. As you will see
from the screen print below, the metadata provides a history of the date in which the document
was last modified. The metadata now shows the date in which I personal accessed the
document, on 21 June 2016, while drafting this letter. However prior to this date, the
document had not been used for some time. Even if someone was to create another copy or
version of this document, it will show the date in which the document was accessed.
I have provided a copy of the document to you at Attachment C.
Signed electronically
Karen Tulloch
Authorised decision maker
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
Email
xxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx
27 June 2016
